Greek Mythology: The Spiritual Dominator.

Chapter 579 Three Questions
After leaving Olympia, the group continued their journey westward.

At the extreme speed of the Star Shuttle, the distance of one-fifth of a continent did not take them too long.

On a sunny afternoon, the base of the ancient pillar of heaven was already in sight.

The atmosphere of vicissitudes and desolation was overwhelming, making Ander feel a little depressed.

Obviously, even after nearly ten thousand years, some immortal rules still remain here.

"Is this Mount Odiles? It's a little different than I imagined."

“Rather than saying this is a collapsed sacred mountain, it’s better to say it’s a high wall with no end in sight.”

Looking far away, you can also feel that invisible pressure.

In Hercules' eyes, there was no sacred mountain in the distance, only a "high wall" whose height, distance and length were unknown.

According to records, this is the fallen mountain of Mount Kinabalu. However, from a human perspective, it is impossible to understand its "mountain" shape.

"Call it what you want, a mountain, a wall, it's all down."

"As the only mountain in the world that still belongs to the earth rather than the ancient mountain god Urya, the fall of Mount Odileus may be inevitable."

"The only thing that makes me a little regretful is that all traces at the foot of this mountain were destroyed along with the collapse of the sacred mountain... There used to be a human tribe here. That tribe was the golden civilization that you longed for."

"The Golden Age?... I wonder if they were really as righteous and perfect as the records say."

With a slight sigh, the great hero had some questions.

Dionysus remained silent, while Prometheus just smiled.

"of course."

"It's just that...what they have is not justice and perfection, but perfect justice."

Perfect justice... Nothing in this world is perfect.

If there is, it probably only exists in books or in the dreams of living beings.

……

Although Chaos did not say this saying, "A horse will die if it runs too fast." Similar proverbs are not uncommon.

From the moment he saw the "high wall" shrouded in clouds, Hercules walked forward for quite some time.

Perhaps because the great divine power had once clashed without reservation here, the speed of the Star Shuttle was no longer as fast near the broken pillar of heaven.

It was not until the evening of that day that Hercules finally felt the mysterious order that was different from other places.

This is a small valley, although the 'mountain' here is more like a natural barrier formed by the rubble that fell when the pillar of heaven collapsed.

At the entrance of the valley, there is a huge scale that seems to be carved out of stone, blocking the only entrance and exit of the valley.

"Hmm? What is this for?"

Raising an eyebrow slightly, Dionysus asked curiously at this.

On this stone scale, he vaguely felt a unique force of rules, but it was definitely not a divine weapon.

Its existence seemed to be screening the number of people who could enter... Looking at the stone statue that Chiron had mentioned before, the great hero explained:

"This is the 'Balance of Equivalence', a magical object created by the power of the divine artifact [Golden Balance] and another divine object of unknown origin."

"As for its function, it is just as its name suggests, a tool for equal exchange."

"Put what you have on one end of the scale and offer it to the goddess, and the goddess will crystallize the equivalent divine power and give it to you."

"So... is this the 'ticket' collected by Her Majesty Themis?" Dionysus continued to ask.

“No, that’s not the ticket.”

"On the contrary, this is the last life-saving talisman for those who come here to verify and challenge the demons."

Shaking it gently, the hero took a step forward.

He crossed the scales directly, and he had no intention of exchanging here. As for whether Dionysus wanted to exchange or not, that was his own decision.

"For thousands of years, countless people have come here to challenge the Sphinx. Some of them came for status, some for fame, and some for power... but none of them succeeded."

"The fate of the losers is to be digested by the Sphinx's domain and become the dead souls that fall under its order."

"Taking life as a bet is the cruelest challenge. But losing life in a fair fight is something that even the goddess of justice will not stop."

"But perhaps out of fairness, Her Highness Themis still gave the challenger a chance to survive. That is to offer 'himself' to the goddess before entering the valley in exchange for an equal amount of divine power under the balance of justice."

"When everything of the challenger belongs to the goddess, then even if he fails, he cannot lose his life a second time... In order to make up for the loss of the Sphinx, the divine power containing order will also become a more delicious food for the demons."

"As for those challengers who survived, they will spend the rest of their lives implementing the goddess' teachings and fulfilling their missions on earth... So Dionysus, you can decide for yourself whether to leave something here."

"This... is truly a generous god."

I felt a little sad. I didn't expect that someone would use divine power to replace a mortal. Although the two sides were indeed equivalent in a certain sense, Dionysus was sure that this equivalence was definitely not the same in terms of matter and energy.

But shaking his head, Dionysus finally rejected the proposal.

As an immortal in the true sense, there is no need for him to sell himself to other gods.

"I'd better forget it. With you in front of me, I'm confident that I can at least answer one question correctly."

"As for devoting yourself to the cause of the paladin, that is not necessary."

"Although I admire their spirit, if I have to do it myself, it would be easier than just killing me."

Dionysus followed with big strides, passed the scale stone carving, and subconsciously looked back at this unique object.

Equivalent replacement... It is true that the power of the [Golden Balance] is used to measure equivalence, but what is used to carry out this exchange?
Maybe nothing, if it can only be exchanged for divine power.

But if it can be replaced in other ways... then Dionysus is really curious. If he mortgages some of his own divine qualities, can he get something interesting out of it?

……

"call……"

"call……"

"call……"

"..."

Walking inwards, he was on guard. While walking through the valley, Hercules had wondered more than once what the Sphinx looked like.

A majestic body, a tyrannical aura, powerful strength, and the rationality that is maintained under the constraints of the Goddess of Law...all of these are possible.

After all, in his past experiences, almost every great demon who inherited the bloodline of Typhon was like this.

Although their strength differs, their brutality is the same.

It wasn't just him, the great hero believed that Dionysus must have thought so in his heart... However, all this ended when he actually saw this wise demon in the legend.

Looking at the big demon lying on the ground in front of him, the corner of his eye twitched slightly, and Hercules felt that all his fantasies collapsed in an instant.

"This……"

I didn’t know what to say. On a flat ground near a water source in the valley, there was a deafening snoring sound.

The hero could not see a single trace of muscle on the monster's huge body that was as huge as a hill.

Compared with the male lions in the wilderness, the huge lion body in front of us is not just a change in size proportion, but more of a very obvious circle of fat.

What surprised him the most was that it was not until he got closer that the sphinx seemed to finally sense something and opened its eyes reluctantly.

"call……"

"call……"

“Huh… hm…?”

"... Is there someone here again? They really disturbed my sweet dream... Come, let me see... Um! Boy, what are you looking at?"

There was a look of laziness in his eyes, as if he was half awake. The Sphinx lowered his tall head slightly and looked at the tiny human in front of him with some dissatisfaction.

Three gods and one human, interesting.

These gods didn't seem to be here to cause trouble for it, otherwise, with their level of divine power, the projection of the [Evil-Slaying Sword] left by Themis would have reacted long ago.

So they all came here to accompany this human... What a rude fellow.

"Humph, what are you looking at? Have you never seen a demon as majestic and powerful as me? You really have no experience at all... Forget it, just tell me, what are you doing here? Or to be more straightforward, are you following the old rules or are you new here?"

"…I am truly sorry, Mr. Demon."

"But what are the 'old rules', and what about the new ones?"

The corner of his mouth twitched slightly, and looking at the demon in front of him with a very different style, Hercules apologized for his rude look.

However, the Sphinx's subsequent words caught his attention, 'old rules'... How come, it turns out that it has some kind of deal with other humans.

And in front of him, the Sphinx didn't care what this human was thinking.

It just lay back on the ground and said boredly:
"You're new here... Well, I'll take the trouble to explain it to you."

"Since you are also human, you should be more understanding of your own kind... You saw the stone balance outside, right? Do you think it's a dangerous place? It was true five hundred years ago, but it is no longer dangerous since a 'smart' human hero came here."

Opening his mouth slowly, the Sphinx briefly described what had happened here.

While listening to the Sphinx's explanation, Hercules couldn't help but feel again that his understanding of the world was still too shallow.

Thousands of years ago, the first humans besieged the Sphinx simply because it was a demon.

However, as heroes who tried to become famous and gain the favor of the gods died at its hands, hatred began to arise. Even though the goddess of justice put an end to this meaningless dispute, hatred still continued.

From that day on, almost every day, people came to this valley from far away. They risked their lives to fight against the demons for various reasons, but in the end, they only got death.

Gradually, a generation died, and those who held hatred also got what they wanted and fell in front of the Sphinx.

But as time passed, when later generations learned about this event from history, it was difficult for them to find any reason to kill it.

The gods were no longer interested in this demon that was restricted by the goddess of justice, and those who harbored hatred for him were killed or injured. Only the Sphinx's reputation grew.

Gradually, the only people who came to look for the Sphinx were heroes who pursued fame and profit and wanted to become famous overnight - but they still could not defeat it.

Until that day, a man named Oedipus and his friends appeared before it.

As if it was destined, although fate deviated and this human hero who originally killed the Sphinx killed his king and father before he even met it, resulting in the tragedy of killing his father and marrying his mother, he still easily answered the Sphinx's two questions.

For the first time, the sphinx felt fear. It put aside its pride and tried to understand the weaknesses of this human.

So it lied and said that it could give him a reward before answering the third question. After all, no one had ever been able to answer its two puzzles in the past.

It allows Oedipus to ask it two questions in return, and he will try his best to give answers.

Oedipus agreed, and the king who had been abandoned since childhood told his story. He wanted to know who his father was and why his kingdom could not be protected no matter how much he offered sacrifices to the gods, but instead suffered from constant natural disasters... The Sphinx answered him.

The brutal act of killing one's father and marrying one's mother is unacceptable to any god or man. As long as he lives, Thebes will never have peace.

"In despair, Oedipus committed suicide... Haha, this is human nature."

"To end one's life because of some mistakes that were not caused by one's own subjective actions is something that even demons cannot understand - but he died, but his friends did not."

"He witnessed our fight, and he knew that I could be defeated, but he also knew that Oedipus could defeat me, but he could not."

"So he decided to make a deal with me, a deal that would benefit everyone."

"He brought me a tribute, so I could deliberately let him answer two questions correctly after he got one wrong."

"In this way, he gained fame, a fame that almost surpassed that of the Sphinx... and I no longer need to worry about the next Oedipus appearing."

"Because he is the first, but he will never be the last... From now on, facing the benefits that can be seen with the naked eye, even humans themselves are unwilling to see Themis' bet win."

The Sphinx looked lazy, relaxed and at ease, with a hint of mocking smile on the corner of his mouth.

Looking up slightly, it seemed to be looking at the [Golden Balance] floating above the valley.

This artifact can restrain demons, but it cannot restrain human greed.

"Look, this is humankind."

"Hypocritical and cunning, mean and ruthless."

"So young hero...what are you going to do?"

"Are you going to answer my three questions and try to end my existence... or do the same as your predecessors. Carrying all the honor, you will return to this sinful world."

(End of this chapter)